Small-Scale Land Use Mapping from Statistical Data

Abstract

t THE program of land use mapping in accordance with the l world land use classification has proceeded very slowly in Canada. Field mapping and interpretation of aerial photographs have been carried out in limited areas, particularly in the Atlantic Provinces. The map scales employed with these methods have ranged chiefly from 1:15,000 to 1:63,360. Few attempts have been made to produce land use maps of broad areas at the 1:1,000,000 scale because the more detailed mapping used as the basis is spotty in distribution. Without a new approach to the problem many years will pass before the small-scale map exists. In an effort to produce a valid land use map at the 1:1,000,000 scale in a short period of time a method has been devised to utilize essentially statistical data, thereby avoiding the time-consuming tasks of field mapping, aerial photograph interpretation, and generalization from the photograph scale of about 1:15,000 to the final scale of 1:1,000,000. Nevertheless, the more detailed field mapping for publication at scales larger than 1:1,000,000 is continuing.